BERGMANN: Trenton must not let up on police salaries

Let me begin by stating up front: I like cops. They do important work. Sometimes, it's dangerous work.

But police salaries here in New Jersey - the highest in the nation - and benefits are totally out of control, despite the imposition in 2011 of a 2 percent cap on arbitration awards for police and firefighters that has helped keep a lid on them.

Unfortunately, the cap will expire on April 1 unless the Legislature acts to extend it or make it permanent. It will be the first big test of the two parties' willingness to find common ground on a major issue - one that could have profound implications for taxpayers for years to come.

Yes, police are important. But are they worth $30,000 a year more, on average, than a teacher? Yes, they face danger. But are the risks they face any greater than those of the enlisted men and women fighting in Afghanistan, who are making one-third as much or less?

Even if the answer were yes, we simply can't afford the $120,000 a year in base pay that patrol officers - yes, patrol officers - are pulling down in Brick, Wall and dozens of other leafy suburban towns in New Jersey. In some municipalities in Bergen County, the base pay is even higher. And base pay doesn't include overtime, longevity pay, compensation for college credit or other ways to fatten the paycheck.

A 2013 annual state pension valuation report, using 2012 base salary paid to police and firefighters in New Jersey, showed that the median pay for male members of the PFRS pension system was $97,937 - nearly twice the U.S. median for police officers. (For women, it was $88,936.) And that was two years ago.

The median wage for a teacher in New Jersey in 2012-13 was $62,583, according to the state Department of Education. The median for nonpolice municipal employees is slightly more than $40,000.

Despite the 2011 arbitration cap, police officers in most towns still get 15 paid sick days a year, 20 or more vacation days after 15 years, time and a half pay for working more than 8½hours a day, four personal days and generous bereavement leave.

Even more troubling, those sky-high salaries are the gift that keeps on giving - and taking away from New Jersey's overwrought taxpayers.

East Brunswick chief financial officer Lou Neely, an expert on municipal finance, has calculated that the police officer who retires today after 25 years on the job, the minimum length of service needed to qualify for a full pension, and lives another 25 years - a conservative estimate given that most patrol officers retire in their mid- to late 40s - will receive $1.6 million in pension payments over that time. The officer's pension contributions to the system will have been less than $150,000.

Patrol officers with 25 years' service receive 65 percent of their final year's base pay for their pension. With 30 years, it's 70 percent. Someone retiring at age 48 with 25 years service, earning $100,000, would get a $65,000 annual pension. For supervisors, it would be considerably higher.

It also should be noted that the pension system for police and firefighters was intentionally designed to be more generous because they weren't allowed to be part of the Social Security system. That changed in 1965, and now police in three of every four municipalities contribute to Social Security, along with a match from the town. So they not only receive their pensions upon retirement but collect Social Security when they become eligible.

With this as a backdrop, and the looming expiration date for the arbitration cap - arguably Gov. Chris Christie's most important tool kit property tax reform - the stage has been set for another classic union versus management showdown. It is imperative that management win this face-off. It isn't at all clear whether it will. Taxpayers must educate themselves about the importance of the issue and make it clear to elected officials that they need to stand their ground against the unions.

The arbitration reform bill in 2011 required the creation of an eight-member task force that would be responsible for assessing the impact of the arbitration cap and making recommendations on how to proceed when it expired this year.

The task force, which released its report last week, consists of four members appointed by Christie and four appointed by the Legislature - all of whom are police or fire union officials. Together, they agreed on four largely procedural recommendations.

Not surprisingly, each group came up with its own set of recommendations regarding the future of the cap. The four Christie appointees want the 2 percent cap to be made permanent, or at least be extended. The union representatives want the caps to be allowed to lapse or for several exclusions to be made to the cap, including costly step increases - arguably the biggest driver of runaway salaries - and longevity pay. They also want any savings in salaries derived from retirements to be made available to spread among the other police officers.

Prior to the arbitration reforms, the rules of interest arbitration were rigged to virtually ensure that unions got most of what they were looking for if they couldn't get what they wanted through negotiations with the towns. In calculating awards, step increases, longevity pay and other nonwage items were excluded.

If the reforms are allowed to sunset, the arbitration process will revert to the days that allowed police and firefighters to squeeze every last bit of blood from the stone.

As much as I like cops, lawmakers and taxpayers can't allow that to happen.